Big Science research facilities

BIG SCIENCE Official Swedish Industrial Liaison Office (ILO)

An important part of the ILO work is to build networks between Swedish companies and relevant contacts at the research facilities. Big Science Sweden works actively to match Swedish companies with tangible needs and current procurements at the facilities.

FUSION REACTORS

ITER DONES

PARTICLE ACCELERATORS

CERN, ESS, MAX IV, ESRF, ILL, ISIS, XFEL, DESY, FAIR

CERN: CMS event display of candidate event with a lepton and high jet multiplicity.

SPACE RESEARCH FACILITIES

ESO, SKA, EISCAT

The antennas of the Atacama Large Millimeter/ submillimeter Array (ALMA), set against the splendour of the Milky Way.

Photo: ESO/B. Tafreshi

LUND, SWEDEN

ESS – a world leading science and technology infrastructure

The multi-disciplinary research facility European Spallation Source, ESS, based on the world’s most powerful neutron source, will enable scientific breakthroughs in a wide range of areas, such as environment, health, materials and energy. ESS is a European partnership, with member countries all over Europe that have committed to collectively build and operate the world’s leading facility for research using neutrons. The facility is currently under construction in Lund, Sweden, and will deliver world-class science from 2023.

World’s most powerful neutron source Lund, Sweden (data centre in Denmark) First science: Pre-Covid-19 planned for 2023 (TBD) Full operation: Pre-Covid-19 planned for 2025 (TBD)

Construction budget: EUR 1,8 billion Estimated operation cost: EUR 140 million/year (TBC)

Employees: 550 Users/researchers: 3000 per year No. of member countries: 13

Host countries: Sweden and Denmark

Construction 47.5% Cash investment ~ 97% Operation 15% (TBD)

Other member countries Construction 52.5% In-kind contribution ~ 70% Operation 85% (TBD)

LUND, SWEDEN

MAX IV makes the invisible visible

The MAX Laboratory is a synchrotron light facility that has been in operation for more than 35 years, and construction of the new synchrotron facility was completed in 2016. Hosted by Lund University, it is the world’s most brilliant synchrotron light source, capable of viewing material structures atom by atom. MAX IV facilitates discoveries of new structures at nanolevel, and scientists are able to monitor chemical processes in real time. The facility can house up to 26 beamlines.

Operational start: 2016 Construction cost: SEK 4.5 billion Operational budget: SEK 530 million/year

Employees: 280 Guest researchers: 2000 per year No. of member countries: N/A (Swedish national facility, hosted by Lund University).

Co-located in South Africa and Australia

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA)

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project is an international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope, with a square kilometre (one million square metres) of collecting area. The scale of the SKA represents a huge leap forward in both engineering and research & development towards building and delivering a unique instrument, with the detailed design and preparation now well under way. As one of the largest scientific endeavours in history, the SKA will bring together a wealth of the world’s finest scientists, engineers and policy makers to bring the project to fruition.

The world's most advanced SKA telescope in South Africa will consist of 197 dish antennas, each with a diameter of 15 m.

Photo: SKA

Representing Sweden in the SKA project Onsala Space Observatory is Sweden’s national infrastructure for radio astronomy, giving scientists access to equipment for studying the Earth and the rest of the universe. Run by Chalmers University of Technology, the observatory operates radio telescopes and other instruments for both astronomy and geodesy.

FINLAND, NORWAY AND SWEDEN

EISCAT – ionospheric and atmospheric measurements

EISCAT is an international scientific association that conducts ionospheric and atmospheric measurements using a technique called ‘incoherent scatter radar’. An example is studies of the Northern Lights.

The association operates equipment in three countries – Finland (Sodankylä), Norway (Tromsø and Longyearbyen), and Sweden (Kiruna) – and all the facilities are located north of the Arctic circle. In Tromsø the facility comprises a combined ionospheric heating and short-wave radar facility.

EISCAT is currently building a next-generation research radar facility, called EISCAT_3D. The radar will replace the systems in Sodankylä, Tromsø, and Kiruna. EISCAT_3D will also be located in the three countries.

Operational start: 1981 Construction cost (current systems): SEK 300 million (1976-1998). EISCAT_3D: SEK 650 million (2017-2022) Operational budget: SEK 8 million (1981) SEK 26 million (2021) Employees: 26 (2021) Researchers: 200 per year No. of member countries: six (China, Japan, Norway, Finland, United Kingdom, and Sweden), plus institutes from five other countries (France, Germany, Ukraine, US, and South Korea).